Final Fantasy VII: EC
by Seeker of Miracles
Summary: Inspired by the On The Way To A Smile series, this is a story chronicling the events after Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children. Set after the events of the movie, this story does not incorporate any events of Dirge of Cerberus. Complete.


The door to Seventh Heaven closed shut with a soft click and the ring of the bell above the door.

Tifa let out a sigh, as she customarily did after a full day's work. She pushed a stray hair out from in front of her face and crossed the hardwood floor towards the back of the little cafe & bar. Her sneakers squeaked slightly as made her way across the floor and the overhead ceiling fan audibly whirled with each spin. Fading light was cast and illuminated the little bar.

Tifa couldn't help but be reminded of what had transpired just a handful of months ago: The Stigma, Kadaj's Reunion...

But there was one key difference this time around:

Cloud yawned, making his way down the stairs from the second floor into the bar proper.

"Mornin'." He said giving a short stretch. His hair was more unkempt than usual. The spiky-haired man had an obvious case of bedhead.

"Morning? It's after closing time. You slept through a whole day again. That can't really be healthy, you know? Staying up all night and sleeping all day. You aught to take more initiative." She waved her finger in his direction. Though she voiced this concern, she wasn't entirely reprimanding him so much as offering some friendly advice.

Cloud smiled since he knew this. Which made Tifa look away and shake her head. She piled the dishes up in the sink. Several thoughts were running through her mind. There had been a serious change in Cloud's demeanour lately, he smiled warmly and fondly. He was sticking around, no longer racing off on Fenrir to distance himself. Even the other day he turned down a delivery job, which had surprised Tifa to no end.

Cloud walked over to a table that hadn't been cleared off yet and picked up the stray dishes. With an affirmative nod from her, he brought them over.

"You heading out to the garage again?" Tifa questioned, trying to ascertain his intentions for the day.

He seemed oblivious to this. "Mmm." Cloud nodded, lining up the dirty dishes next to the sink.

Tifa ran the hot water from the tap and stirred up some suds before setting to work cleaning the dishes.

"What are you up to over there, anyway? It's not the bike. You haven't been driving that thing lately. Certainly not enough to warrant all the frequent tune-ups." She scrubbed out a tall glass cup.

Cloud just smiled before he moved over next to her and started washing and drying dishes as well. Tifa just shook her head in quiet appreciation at his silent contribution. "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"Nope." He said with a warm smile to himself.

She gave him a light shove, and the two shared a little laugh.

The sun's rays gone for the evening, the sound of crickets and the odd outside traffic noise trickled into the quaint little bar. Cleaned up and ready for the next day of operation, Seventh Heaven had grown quiet.

"Marlene and Denzel are staying with Barret and Cid for a few days..." Tifa informed Cloud, trying to gauge his response.

Cloud absentmindedly nodded his acknowledgement of this fact, but continued to stare at the floorboards. Something was going through his mind.

Tifa, outside Cloud's field of vision reached a hand up towards him and nervously pivoted towards him, but he interrupted her by saying "I'm heading to the garage now."

She watched him leave as the door once again shut with a rattle of the bell.

Rocket Town, around the same time...

Rocket Town was undergoing a restoration effort after the damage caused by the Lifestream during Meteorfall. When the Lifestream had burst forth from the planet to defend against Meteor it had caused some damage to the planet's surface. Some areas and towns had sustained more than others. While other places, like Rocket Town just took longer to clean up due to

Cid wiped at his forehead, smearing grime and sweat, two short fat shingle nails remained clenched between his teeth as he removed a third and hammered it into the roof. Across from him, Barret was also helping to re-shingle the roof. Barret held down the shingle with his prosthetic hand and hammered the nails in before pulling up his hand...

...and removing an entire row of shingles with it.

"What?!" Barret stared incredulously at his hand and the row of shingles trailing off it.

"Oh for cryin' out loud!" Cid pointed his hammer at him accusingly. "What'd ya do that for? Gimme that, would ya?! You're just making a mess, ya clumsy lummox!"

Cid stood up and walked over to Barret, who had accidentally hammered a nail into his prosthetic hand and thus fastened himself into the row of shingles.

The airship pilot grumbled and muttered to himself as he worked to free Barret from the shingle nail.

Marlene watched her father's rather pained expression as Cid had to come to his rescue, she stifled a giggle before making her way over to the picnic table where Denzel was working on a coloring book.

"So Denzel, how do you like it here?" Marlene asked with a look of inquiry.

"The airship ride was..." Denzel shot Cid an intimidated look. "Different."

Denzel then looked over at Marlene. "But it's nice here. Really peaceful and quiet. Not at all like Midgar or Edge."

"Of course not." Cid made his way down the ladder leading up to the house. "People around here have some sense. Why, when I was your age... everyone had some sense. Now, apparently, there must not be enough of it left to go around."

He made his way over to a chair, placing a cigarette between his lips. Satisfied with the job he had done, he was now going to sit back and admire it.

He paused as Marlene shot him a dirty look, before he decided to return with a defiant smirk. Pulling out a lighter, he was about the light the stick of tobacco before it was suddenly snatched from his mouth by Shera.

He looked up at her with a look of bewilderment before she showed him the back of her hand. The Geostigma that had once infected it was now gone.

"I told you when we overcame this, that there would be some changes around here. One of which was that you were going to stop smoking these." She put the cigarette in a little trash receptacle next to Cid's chair.

"If you gotta put something between your teeth, try this." Shera stuffed a grass reed into Cid's mouth, which he looked down at crossed eyed. She then called over to Barret. "Mr. Wallace! I made you some herbal tea!"

Cid picked up a magazine that was on left on the armrest of his chair, Airships Monthly. "Yeah! Get over here and drink your goddamn tea!"

"Now, what did we say about the language, dear? There are children present." Shera gestured towards Denzel and Marlene before turning around to pour a cup of tea for Barret.

"Don't you dear me." Cid remarked. "Everyone knows you spoil these kids every chance you get!"

The pilot fished into his coat pocket and withdrew a couple peppermint candies which he handed over discreetly to Denzel and Marlene. He shushed them and gestured for them to skedaddle while he carried on. "It'd do them some good to exercise some discipline and learn some authority."

Both kids giggled to themselves and unwrapped the candies while Cid continued to verbally reprimand Shera for her 'spoil-some ways'. This went on for some time.

"And..." Shera finally putting her hands on her hips. "Where did you two get those candies from, and right before supper too." She looked down at the two guilty children before looking over in Cid's direction.

"I don't know." Cid waved his hand dismissively and then slapped at his magazine. "You know kids, they probably found them lying around somewhere and just helped themselves.." He withdrew a peppermint candy for himself. Dropping the wrapper in the same trash receptacle.

Some time later, somewhere on the Western Continent...

Dust was kicked up as Cloud sped down a dirt road on Fenrir. He stared down the road wearing his trusty goggles. Letting off the throttle lightly, and allowing the motorcycle to cruise off it's own inertia, the hero looked down at the speedometer before looking at the pair of arms linked tightly around his waist.

He noticed the fingers link together nervously before he gazed over his shoulder. Tifa, wearing a pair of goggles of her own pulled back from her position behind him to give him a nod of reassurance. With the unspoken question of "Are you okay?" answered, Cloud turned back to the driving task at hand, smile upon his face.

Coaxing into a sleepy little town that had cropped up during the aftermath of Meteorfall, Cloud slowed the bike down into a complete stop. A hanging sign of the closest building read: "Welcome to the town of Myrrh."

Myrrh was a realized idea between Barret and Cid, as the two worked in tandem to provide a place for displaced people of both Rocket Town and North Corel after the destruction caused by the Lifestream bursting forth from the planet. As the town slowly began to build, much like Edge, the World Regenesis Organization stepped in to help transform the town from a good idea into a full on refuge program. The town had come a long way in so few years. Though nowhere near the size of Edge, it had quickly outgrown the size of Rocket Town, which was undergoing its own reconstruction effort.

Cloud removed his goggles and stepped off the bike before offering a hand to Tifa and helping her dismount the large motorcycle. Instinctively, Cloud reached for his sword compartment, but Tifa, noticing the growing crowd stopped him.

The gathering villagers looked inquisitively at the pair of newcomers. Cloud set all their hearts at ease by waving politely, and heading towards what he presumed was the town center, weaponless.

Tifa took her time and collected her stuff, while Cloud walked up and knocked on the door of the town hall. Receiving no answer he peered through the windows. "Looks like there's nobody here."

"Cloud.." Tifa called, getting his attention.

"Dad's out helping Ms. Sarah. He'll be back in a couple minutes." A young boy said, standing at the bottom of the stairs. The boy wore a slanted newsboy cap that combined with his head of hair obscured much of the right side of his face. He wore a hoodie and bright red shorts.

Cloud nodded before walking down the steps. The boy kept his distance, but didn't remove himself entirely from the strangers. Cloud noticed that the crowd from earlier had pretty much dispersed, leaving behind only a few choice stragglers.

"Something wrong?" Cloud enquired about the townsfolk.

The boy shook his head. "Oh, don't mind them. They're mostly refugees from North Corel. Bit sceptical when strangers come into town."

"But with Reeve's guys from the WRO, don't you get a lot of strangers around here anyways?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah," The boy nodded. "That's exactly why."

Cloud questioned this, but decided not to push the matter any further.

Shortly the boy's father returned, he was slightly older than Cloud was expecting.

"Can I help you two?" The man said, wringing his hands out on a plaid cloth before stuffing it into his pocket.

Tifa stepped forward "We run the Strife Delivery Service. You name it, we deli-!"

"Never heard of it." The man said, walking up the stairs and unlocking it. He pocketed a small gold and silver key before pushing it open. His son headed inside before him.

Tifa made a face while Cloud broke eye contact with the man. This wasn't going at all like they had expected.

"...Come on in." The man said after some time. "You two look like you've had a long journey."

Within a couple moments, a gentle fire was crackling in the fireplace and a pot of tea was brought out and set down on the coffee table.

Cloud and Tifa sat together on a loveseat while the owner of the house reclined in his chair. The older man placed a toothpick in his mouth and poured the three of them a cup of tea each.

"You two are a long way from home." The man remarked.

"How'd you know?" Tifa asked, graciously accepting the tea.

"Nobody around here dresses like you two." The man remarked. "Midgar, I presume?"

"Edge, actually." Tifa informed their host, in a matter-of-factly way.

Cloud picked up his cup of tea, took a sip, blanched a little bit and then put it back down. "You wouldn't happen to be related to a Cid Highwind would you?"

"Cid? Why do you ask?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Cid helped me built this house." The man said, patting his armrest. "So you know Cid? Not surprised. Most people here know the name Cid Highwind."

The man despite his apparent charm and generosity didn't quite look in their direction. An odd silence broke out before finally:

"Well, what are your names? You're in my house, least you can do is introduce yourselves."

"Oh!" Tifa gasped, totally caught off-guard and at a loss for displaying such discourtesy.

"Cloud." Cloud introduced himself without dropping a beat. "And this is my wife, Tifa."

Tifa looked embarrassed. Cloud stepping forward and introducing her like that, especially after their recent marriage. She pushed her hair back over her left ear, slightly uncertain what else to do but smile.

"So you two are married. Good for you." The man took a sip of his tea. "Name is Leone by the way, and in the other room there is my youngest son, Cielo. So, what brings you all the way out here, thinking about moving out of the city? Ha ha!"

"Your youngest son?" Tifa enquired.

"Yeah, I got another one running around here somewhere. Goddess knows where..."

"Actually..." Cloud peered over into the next room. "We're going around... asking if you know or have any loved ones currently battling with the Stigma."

"That thing?" Leone shook his head. "Nope." He answered a little too quickly.

Tifa took this opportunity to add further. "We've been reaching out to as many places as we can, spreading the word that we've found a cure to the Stigma. We've been trying to get this out, spread it around, heal people."

"But the attacks last year delayed us from getting out this far." Cloud removed a vial from his pants pocket. "We have a water supply that can cure Geostigma. All signs of it. Instantly, no repercussions. Perhaps you've seen some of the WRO broadcasts?"

"A lot of folks here in Myrrh are apprehensive, though appreciative, of the help the WRO have provided." Leone said, taking a sip of his tea. "They've set their sights upon restoring the planet, and good for them, but they mobilized really quickly and a good share of them are former Shinra. Don't misunderstand me though, I realize they have good intentions and a whole lot of them are volunteers, but that doesn't change the fact that sometimes these kids get a little too gung-ho with their solutions and all this medical science."

Leone let out a long sigh. "Modern medicine and all this reliance on technology is precisely the reason we're in this position in the first place..." He looked in the direction of the other room, where his son currently was.

Cloud smiled to himself. "Well, this isn't technology or medicine. It's a gift. From the planet and those residing in it." He stood up and made his way into the other room. Sitting down with Cielo and chatting to him. A few questions were asked before the boy removed his cap and showed where the Stigma had marked him.

Tifa watched on, marvelling after her husband's way with kids.

"So..." Leone said, noticing this. "How far along are you?"

"Huh?" Tifa was snapped out of her daze by the sudden question. "W-what do you mean?"

"I know the signs." The older man said. "The way you position yourself and guard yourself. You probably haven't even caught yourself doing it."

Tifa turned a shade of red, but before she could say anything, there was a knock on the door and the door opened up. A young woman delivering newspapers poked her head inside.

"Mr. Strife? I brought you the evening paper!"

"Thank you, Luna. You can just put it there by the door. I'll read it later." Leone nodded towards a small wooden stand next to the door.

The delivery-girl placed the newspaper on the stand, gave a quick two finger salute and then headed down the stairs to reunite with her boyfriend and continue delivering papers.

Leone closed his eyes in contemplative thought, unsure what to say.

Tifa held a hand up over her mouth at this new-found revelation.

Cloud walked back in. Quickly followed by Cielo.

"Dad! Dad! I'm cured!" Cielo said, showing off his short brown spiky-hair and the Stigma's absence.

"I poured what I had with me into a bowl in the kitchen." Cloud explained, wiping his wet hands off on a cloth. "Told your son to let anybody else in the village with the Stigma know to come here. I have a couple boxes with me. Can I leave them with you to redistribute?"

Leone opened his eyes and smiled at his son. "Certainly."

Unloading the boxes, Tifa and Cloud were returning to the motorcycle when the Sierra flew overhead. Cid and the others had arrived to pick them up in the airship.

It was getting late and the two of them couldn't stay much longer.

Leone stopped them though. "You said something about a delivery service?"

"That's right." Tifa said.

Leone walked down the steps carrying a small metal case. "You'll be heading home soon? I have a son in Edge and I was wondering if you wouldn't give this to him and pass along a message."

Cloud accepted the case. "What is it?"

"It's a teapot given to me by his mother. It's been through a lot. But I want him to have it, so that whenever he looks at it, he'll think of his family... as I have."

Cloud looked the package over. "There's no address.."

Leone looked over at Tifa, who nodded silent encouragement. "I gave your wife the address earlier. She can direct you once you get back to Edge."

Cloud, raising an eyebrow, looked back over to Tifa to confirm. The lovely woman just nodded her head. "And... what's the message."

"That his family's always here." Leone said. "And to take care."

**EXTRA CARE **

**Epilogue**

The door to Seventh Heaven opened with a soft click and the ring of the bell above the door. Barret stepped in followed by Yuffie.

"Papa!" Marlene ran forward and hugged her father about his knees.

"Whoa there!" Barret lit up like a Christmas tree. "That's right! I came to pay all you foos a visit! And I brought this little one along with."

Barret swooped down and lifted Marlene up onto his shoulder while nudging Yuffie forward.

The ninja from Wutai just rubbed her arm meekly. "I just thought I'd swing by and say hello."

Tifa smiled fondly from behind the counter. Leone's teapot was proudly on display, along with a tin plaque which read: [Take extra care of family].

"Hey! What's this?" Barret said, approaching the bar and reading the plaque. "A gift or something?"

"A reminder." Tifa said, rinsing out a glass. "To remind us of what's important."


End file.
